The 10 biggest fintech deals you missed this autumn

Fintech has struggled this year. Industry funding has fallen in tandem with market volatility caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, hiking interest rates, the Covid-19 hangover and enduring supply chain issues. But despite the odds, over 100 fintech firms successfully raised capital in October 2022.

That is an achievement, given that the flow of fintech funding has dried up in 2022 compared to 2021. The industry enjoyed a $253.4bn boost to its finances across 2,913 deals in 2021, according to data from research firm GlobalData. However, those figures have plummeted to $66.5bn across 1,577 deals in 2022.

Despite the funding environment having become tougher for fintech firms, several industry companies managed to cash in millions in new capital injections in October.

Fintech firms secured $5.8bn in funding in October, according to data from GlobalData. That included 77 venture financing deals, 14 private equity deals, five debt offering deals and two equity offering deals.

North America led the number of firms securing fintech funding in October, bagging 37 deals worth a combined $1.2bn. Europe followed suit with 28 deals worth $3.9bn. Fintech firms in Asia secured 25 deals worth $393m. Their peers in the Middle East and Africa bagged $166m across seven deals. South and Central American ventures only secured $22m across two deals.

Taking a closer look at the top 10 fintech rounds raised in October, it's also easy to see the scope of the industry. Neobanks and buy-now-pay-later companies may grab headlines, but the sector is bigger than that. For instance, insurance, regulation, legal and cybersecurity technology ventures can all fall under the umbrella of fintech as they all represent components that make financial services work. All of these companies contribute to making the flow of money smoother and more digital.

Unsurprisingly, several of the fintech firms securing funding in October were in that realm. Now, let's take a look at the 10 biggest industry capital raises from last month.

Cybersecurity company NetSPI secured $410m in a new funding round in October. Global investment firm KKR led the raise on the back of its initial investment from May 2021.

"We are excited to double down on our investment in NetSPI to help build a differentiated leader in offensive cyber security," said Jake Heller, partner and head of KKR's technology growth team in the Americas. "We have been very impressed by the performance of the company and the exceptional execution by Aaron and his team over the past 18 months. We believe this is just the beginning of what we can accomplish together."

Founded in 2001, NetSPI, will use the capital to keep reliving security for financial institutions, cloud providers and healthcare organisations.

Wise, the international money transfer company previously known as TransferWise, bagged a £300m debt facility in October, making it the biggest funding round we've seen in the industry last month. The Californian investor Silicon Valley Bank led the raise and featured participation of six other banks as well, according to UK Tech News.

“The new facility led by Silicon Valley Bank UK will offer us flexible and efficient access to working capital,” said Matt Briers, chief financial officer at Wise.

“This means we can continue bringing our service to as many as possible and we can keep investing in making our payments faster, cheaper, and more efficient for our millions of customers around the world.”

Automation Anywhere is not really a straightforward fintech company. As the name suggests, it helps businesses automate business processes. However, the fact that it services financial services companies and insurers has earned it a place on this list.

The fact that it raised a $200m financing round in October also helps land it a spot on the list. It secured the funding from Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Capital and Hercules Capital. Automation Anywhere will use the money as operational and strategic capital for the next few years.

“We continue to be optimistic about the near-term opportunities for Automation Anywhere, as more companies scale automation and use the flexibility of our cloud platform to mitigate the impact of global events and navigate market challenges,” said Mihir Shukla, CEO and co-founder of Automation Anywhere. “The financing enables us to expand on our mission to unleash human potential by helping every company build a digital workforce and succeed with automation.”

London-based cryptocurrency custodian Copper Technologies secured $196m in a Series C funding round in October. Of that, $181m came from new and existing shareholders, with the rest from a convertible loan note, Yahoo Finance reported.

The firm, which is advised by former UK finance minister Philip Hammond also removed its application to operate in the UK in October. The news comes after the firm – just like many other firms providing cryptocurrency services – had struggled to win approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.

Decentralised finance startup Uniswap has joined the coveted unicorn club after bagging $165m in a Series B raise. Polychain Capital led the raise that put the startup's valuation at $1.7bn, The Defiantreported. Other investors included Andressesn Horowitz, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant.

CEO Hayden Adams said in a statement that the capital injection would be used to fund development of its web app and development tools, launch non-fungible tokens (NFT) and move into mobile.

Loyalty programme fintech Bilt Rewards secured $150m and a $1.5bn valuation through a funding round in October. VC firm Left Lane Capital led the funding round that enabled the fintech firm to achieve its unicorn status, TechCrunch reported.

Wells Fargo, Greystar, Invitation Homes, Camber Creek, Fifth Wall, Smash Capital, Prosus Ventures and Kairos also backed the new capital raise. The round followed a $60m cash injection secured in 2021.

While the company claims to have hit profitability earlier in 2022, Bilt Rewards' founder and CEO Ankur Jain said the amount of interest from investors enabled it strengthen its financial muscles and think more long-term. For instance, the company could use the money to float publicly or to acquire smaller firms, TechCrunch reported.

Most of the company's new cash influx will be kept in reserves for now.

“Unlike a lot of the VC rat race businesses where you’re just chasing growth for the sake of chasing growth, we can just keep focusing on the core business and growth and think long-term here,” Jain told TechCrunch. “That’s our goal and a big reason why we raised the capital right now.”

Versa Networks is a single-vendor for secure access service edge (SASE) platforms. In other words, the startup provides cybersecurity solutions. With it securing a $120m pre-initial public offering round in October, it therefore made it onto this list.

Investor force majeure BlackRock led the raise. Silicon Valley Bank also participated in the funding round. Versa will use the dosh to expand its go-to-market strategies and accelerate the development of its solutions.

“This funding will allow us to expand our go-to-market and accelerate new innovations that will further expand the market opportunity for us as a company,” said Kelly Ahuja, CEO of Versa Networks.

Growth equity investor FTV Capital led ConnexPay's new $110m funding round in October. Previous investors also supported the raise. The US-based payments platform will use the cash injection to fuel its international expansion into Europe.

“ConnexPay was founded to transform the entire payments experience for the travel industry, and now that mission extends to other payment intermediary companies both in the US and around the world,” said Robert Kaufman, founder and CEO at ConnexPay.

Australian Airwallex secured $100m in a Series E extension round last month, making it one of the biggest fintech funding deals we saw in October.

More funds were secured from existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures and Tencent. In addition, HostPlus, an Australian industry superannuation fund, as well as a leading North American pension fund also participated in this round.

While the payments and banking infrastructure company added extra capital to sustain its international growth, Airwallex retained its $5.5bn valuation.

“The valuation underscores investors’ confidence in Airwallex’s core business value and fundamentals, and we are fortunate to have the continued support of our existing investors, and the confidence of new investors, as we pursue our vision to become the global economic infrastructure for modern businesses,” said Jack Zhang, Co-founder and CEO at Airwallex.

Fintech startup Tally secured an $80m series D funding round in October. The financial automation venture said it would use the money to tackle the US credit card debt crisis with its automated debt pay-down system.

Sway Ventures led the raise with participation from Menora Mivtachim. Previous investors Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Shasta Ventures and Cowboy Ventures also took part in this round.

“Tally is a true industry innovator for its distinctive use of technology to help more consumers get out of debt, and we look forward to partnering with the Tally team to help expand their product offerings and reach, particularly during a time when credit card balances are nearing all-time highs,” said Ken Denman, general partner at Sway Ventures.